Strength Speaks the Truth
by IRiSEaGLes
Summary: Written for The Houses Competition, year 5. There is a buzz in the Daily Prophet's newsroom and a certain bug is bound to find the scoop.


The crest above the door had a glaring Sphinx looking on the people as they skittered too and fro. He was the guardian of knowledge and strength. It was meant to be the undercurrent of the room which he guarded: Vi recta loquitur diligetur - _strength speaks the truth_. The eyes seemed to follow anyone who had a purpose, a silent reminder that what they spoke - or wrote - would influence many and that they needed to write what was right.

The irony of such a majestic creature watching over a room full of debauchery and falsehoods.

There was a mechanical hum that resonated throughout the hallways that vibrated within the bones of any guests, but for those whose work in this frenzied place it brings them a sense of peace and it goes completely unnoticed. They have become immune to its unnerving feel. It is nothing more than the constant ticking of a clock.

The rows and rows of cookie-cutter desks look like something out of a science-fiction story gone wrong. It is like a cloning machine went awry. Many of the occupants are the same way, the same vacant frazzled look in their eyes, the disheveled robes, and many even had 'matching' mismatched socks. The poor old witch in the front of the chaos wore two right shoes, something that luckily was hidden behind her desk.

To the untrained eye, it can be worrisome. That the people within these walls were the bastions of the truth of the Wizarding World.

To the lime green beetle flitting around the room, it was just another day at work.

The beetle watched and listened carefully to everything going on in the pit of the Daily Prophet's Newsroom. It was a big news day, and she would have to catch onto the story and sink her antennae into it. She was rarely early to work, rather taking her time on her signature good looks. She would let the others do the hard lifting, they were after all the mere ants in this hole and she will always be their queen.

"Ginny Potter resigns from the Holyhead Harpies," came from someone who covers Quidditch for the infamous wizarding paper.

"Harry Potter takes a leave of absence from the Auror Department. Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley were seen rushing out of the Ministry shortly after his departure," one of the police blotter writers discussed. This wizard is a house mouse in the Ministry's myriad of hallways, the beetle knows for sure. He spends many days and nights hiding under Aurors desks or in the interrogation rooms or - where he gets his best information - in the breakroom of the Auror Department. His sources usually are undisputed, since they are all his own first-hand knowledge.

The beetle's interest is peaked. The famous Golden Trio making their escape from the Ministry under questionable circumstances? Presumably to rush to the side of their fourth-wheel.

Has a love triangle gone wrong? Has the famous trio finally fallen apart? Oh, the stories she could spin. Did Ginny Potter find out the truth that her beloved husband harbored feelings for Hermione Granger? Did something happen to Ginny Potter, say an accident, that would throw Harry Potter into the warm, waiting arms of Hermione Granger again?

There was always something a little 'off' with the famous three Gryffindors if Rita Skeeter spoke the truth - which in all honesty she rarely did. There was a closeness that was too close and very uncomfortable for many of her rabid readers to believe was strictly platonic. And who would truly believe that Hermione Granger would fall in love with the dunderhead of the trio, Ron Weasley? Certainly not her. Certainly not her readers.

Then there was the fact that three children were so much more beloved than her with the public. It irked the iridescent beetle as she landed and listened to the speculations that bounced off the windows that lined the walls of the pit.

Some people were saying that there was an accident and that Ginny Potter got hurt, badly. Some were saying that Harry Potter is being forced to resign his post as Head Auror under questionable circumstances. Some were saying that the was an uprising of a new generation of Death Eaters and the Golden Trio has been called into service under the guise of the Order of the Phoenix, not the Ministry of Magic.

The speculations that abound in this room are nothing to what the lime green colored beetle will come up with herself. What she will create will be something of an art, of beauty. And yes, probably of pure fiction.

But truly, the Daily Prophet is not known for speaking the truth. There may be strength in truth, but there is more in fiction.

That is why she is a beetle and not a sphynx. Knowledge is one thing, strength another, but the truth is something that she usually avoids like a boot.

All she needs now is her trusty Quick-Quotes Quill and a corner of tomorrow's front page cover.

* * *

Author's Notes

House: Snakes  
Class: Potions  
Category: Drabble  
Prompt: [Setting] Daily Prophet Newsroom, [Colour] Lime, [Creature] Sphinx  
Word Count: 841


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